A Waking Dragon: Chapter One – The Pink Stone

The morning sun rose, shining upon Ponyville. Beams of light came through the windows of the living quarters at Ponyville Library. Slowly moving across the floor until they landed on a small basket in the middle of the room, containing a small purple dragon named Spike.

The light woke him, and as he stirred in his bed, opening his eyes to the world, a question ran through his head, on one wall, he saw the answer indicated on a wall calendar. It was Saturday, and the day before, Friday, was crossed out. But he could still read what was well-marked in Friday’s square: “Rarity’s Funeral”

He stood, yawned and stretched his arms wide, recovering from a long night’s sleep. He looked over at the dresser at one end of the room, and noticed a gold ring sitting on top of it. Getting out of his bed, he walked over, and examined the ring, it was exactly as he last left it, tiny fragments of the original gemstone were still lodged inside, but most of it had already fallen out. It didn’t matter, he had a plan for this ring. He proceeded down the stairs to the library’s main sitting room.

As he entered, he heard a voice from the kitchen, which was through a nearby door. “Spike!?” A purple unicorn mare entered the room, and looked at the young dragon, “I made breakfast if you want any.”

“Um… in a minute Twilight,” Spike said to his best friend. “I gotta take care of something.”

As she proceeded back into the kitchen, Spike went straight to a bookshelf on the other end of the room. In the foreign language section, he spotted a book on jewellery repair. It was misfiled, likely by one of the library’s patrons. He grabbed it and proceeded down to the library’s basement.

There wasn’t much light in the basement, but a small window high up at the top provided just enough for him to take in his surroundings.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he found a simple torch hanging on the wall that he quickly lit with his dragon breath, so he could see a lot better. He then made a beeline straight to the workbench at one end of the basement, dropping both the ring, and book right on top. He then proceeded to a simple green chest at the other end of the room. Opening it, he saw it was full of gemstones of various colours, which made his mouth water. But he wasn’t here to eat, he was here on a mission. He grabbed a pink stone, closed the chest and ran back to the bench, placing the torch in a stand.

He quickly flipped the book to the page he needed, instructions on how to set a gemstone. Taking a cloth that was kept down there, he placed the ring into a vice that was bolted to the bench, placing the cloth in between the ring and vice, so it wouldn’t get damaged. He then took a big bite out of the pink gemstone, chewing and swallowing. He continued to eat it until it was about the right size. Holding it up to the ring, he saw it was just a little too big, and wasn’t the right shape. He continued to take small bites out of the gemstone until it would fit the ring.

Eventually, the stone was ready. He reached into one of the drawers on the bench, pulling out a small hooked tool, which he used to clear out what was left of the old stone, before getting to work placing the new stone in.

Eventually, the new ring was complete. Originally a gift from his girlfriend, it would now remind him of what he had, not what he lost. The thought made him smile.

He slid the ring onto his right hand, extinguished the torch, and quickly ran back upstairs.

Once he arrived in the library’s kitchen, he could see Twilight, sitting at the table, idly stirring a bowl of cereal. Across from her, another bowl sat, obviously for Spike.

That managed to get a chuckle out of Twilight. Spike was in the basement for a while, so the fact that Twilight’s bowl was full, made Spike realize something was wrong. But he didn’t need to ask what it was, because he already knew.

Spike sat on the stool, and dug right in. Twilight looked up at Spike, and smiled. He smiled back and, after swallowing what was in his mouth, asked, “You doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” she lied. “I guess I’m just not hungry.”

Spike was concerned, but he couldn’t think of what to say. He wished there was something he could say that would make everything all better. But there wasn’t. Rarity was gone, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true… but… well, he knew Twilight too well to think that would work.

Twilight looked up from her bowl and noticed Spike’s ring. “Did… did you change the stone in that ring?”

Spike stopped eating, and looked at the unicorn. He then looked at his ring. “Oh, yeah, since the old stone broke I figured I should replace it.”

Twilight was skeptical, after all he could have just waited until he found a green stone, but she decided to let it go. Spike had his reasons, she just had to accept it. Perhaps a green stone would remind him too much of her. But if that was true, why wear the ring at all?

It wasn’t important. She had other things to discuss.

“So, um… I hear Rarity left Carousel Boutique to Sweetie Belle.”

Spike paused as another spoonful of cereal was about to enter his mouth. “Really?” he said, a bit perplexed.

“Mmmhm, I’m not sure what they’re going to do with it, but I doubt Sweetie Belle can run the store on her own… or make clothes to populate it.”

Spike began worrying about the consequences of this. They might sell it, and they couldn’t do that! It would tarnish her memory! He had to meet with Rarity’s parents. Try to convince them to keep it open. Spike quickly polished off the rest of his cereal.

“I got to go!” Spike said, as he began running out of the kitchen.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled, stopping the young dragon.

He turned around and looked at his friend.

“What are you going to do?”

“…I figure they might try to sell it, I’m going to convince them to keep it open,” Spike explained.

“Why?”

Spike paused for a second before answering. “I’ll see you later, Twilight,” he ran out the door.

The streets of Ponyville weren’t very busy that morning. Most ponies were still waking up. Which meant Fluttershy didn’t have to try very hard to spot a particular young dragon as he left his house.

The yellow pegasus had just finished her morning chores, which included feeding all the animals in her care, and cleaning up any messes in her cottage, and was flying over Ponyville when she spotted Spike. She landed a few feet behind him and caught up to the young dragon.

“Spike?” she said, in a very quiet voice.

The dragon turned and greeted his friend, “Oh, hey Fluttershy. What brings you into town?”

“OH! I was going to meet up with Rainbow Dash, when I saw you and decided to say ‘hello,'” Fluttershy lied.

“AH!” Spike said in realization.

“Where are you going?” Fluttershy asked with genuine curiosity

“Oh, did you know that Rarity left Carousel Boutique to Sweetie Belle?”

Fluttershy thought for a second. “Um… no… why?”

“I’m worried her parents might make her sell it!”

Fluttershy was suddenly very concerned. “Um… Spike… why is that a problem?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.

“Because I know Rarity wouldn’t want that,” he explained. “In fact, there are probably a few of her designs that never got made. Think of how terrible it would be if they died with her!?”

“Spike,” she explained. “They probably weren’t finished either.”

“Well that’s easy to fix,” he said, slyly, giving her a wink.

Fluttershy sighed and looked at her friend, “Spike-”

“Look! Fluttershy, I know you don’t believe me, but I have to at least try!”

Her concern didn’t fade, but she realized he was going to do this either way, and he might need some help. “Well, in that case, you should know they’re already at Carousel Boutique.”

“What?”

She nodded, “I saw them when I flew over.”

“Great!” He exclaimed, as he took off in the opposite direction.

“OH!” said Fluttershy, “Wait for me!”

Carousel Boutique was nearly empty that day, as the former owner’s family was examining everything within.

It was still as pristine as it was the day Rarity died, since no one bothered visiting it until today.

One of the many rooms within contained several rolls of fabric, a half-dozen dress forms, sewing machine, and other equipment used for making and designing clothes. But all that was ignored by Sweetie Belle. She was lying down in the middle of what Rarity called her ‘inspiration room,’ flipping through a book filled with drawings of clothes. All signed by Rarity.

She wasn’t sure if any of them had been made before, in fact most of them, she didn’t recognize. It was possible that this work was part of Rarity’s to-do list. It was terrible that she never got the chance to actually make them.

It was at this moment, Sweetie Belle heard some noise coming down the hallway. Closing the book, she proceeded down the hall to find out what all the ruckus was about.

In the middle of the main showroom, she saw her mother, a pink unicorn named Diamond Ring, hugging a familiar purple dragon.

“Spike!” Sweetie Belle yelled as she ran toward her friend. Diamond Ring got out-of-the-way as her daughter tackled the young dragon.

“GAH!” Spike reacted as his friend pinned him to the ground. “Hey, Sweetie Belle,” he said to the young unicorn currently on top of him. “What’s up?”

“I am!” she said cheekily.

“I wasn’t expecting such a warm welcome.”

“I just missed you!” she said as she nuzzled the little guy. “That’s all!”

“You saw me yesterday!”

“I know!” Sweetie Belle had a huge smile on her face as she stepped off him.

“Um…” went a soft voice to Sweetie Belle’s left. She didn’t notice until that moment that Fluttershy was standing next to her.

Sweetie Belle jumped. “AH!” she screamed and fell on her back. “Fluttershy! I didn’t see you there!” Sweetie went right back to smiling.

“Oh, not much, just talked to Twilight this morning.” Turning to Sweetie Belle, he continued, “she said Rarity left this place to you.”

Sweetie just looked at Spike wide-eyed. There was an awkward silence as they waited for him to continue.

“…and I was just wondering what you were planning to do with it.”

“Funny you should ask,” came a voice from the other side of the room. No one noticed Sweetie Belle’s father, a white earth pony named Field Goal, enter the room. “I was just thinking about that.”

As he walked towards the foursome. Spike got very nervous.

“Since it technically belongs to Sweetie Belle, she should benefit,” Field Goal explained. “So… we should sell it and put the money in her college fund!”

“NO!!!” Spike and Sweetie Belle exclaimed. If Fluttershy didn’t know any better, she would have thought they rehearsed that.

“I mean…” Spike tried to explain, before saying, “NO!”

“We can’t sell this place, all of Rarity’s work is here!”

“Well, it won’t go away, Pumpkin,” her father explained. “We’ll sell them so other ponies can enjoy them, just like Rarity would have done.”

“But… but… but that’s not all!” Sweetie said before zooming off into the back room.

Spike thought things would be a bit more difficult. He thought he would have to explain, but the truth was, he had nothing… or at least, nothing that wouldn’t make him sound completely insane. So Spike was quite happy to see Sweetie make the argument for him.

It was a few seconds later when she arrived back in the room, with a book in her mouth. Dropping it open and flipping to a page with a drawing of a very elegant dress on it, she pointed at it and said simply. “See! I’ve never seen any dress like this. I think she was planning to make it, but never got the chance.”

“Sweetie Belle,” her mother explained. “Maybe this was a dress she didn’t want to make. Maybe it was supposed to be on the scrap pile.”

“No,” came a sweet voice from behind them. Fluttershy explained, “that was supposed to be part of her next collection, but…”

“See!” Sweetie said, with a mix of pride and desperation.

“But, Sweetie Belle,” her father said. “What would you do with this anyway?”

“I’d make it and sell it,” the young unicorn explained. “This shouldn’t stay stuck in a book like this. It should be worn by ponies all across Equestria!”

“But be realistic,” he explained. “You’re still a little foal, you’re still in school, you can’t run a dress shoppe all on your own!”

“But… but…” Spike noticed tears in the young filly’s eyes, as she said, very quietly, “it’s all that’s left of her.”

Spike was pretty sure he was the only one who heard her say that, and it broke his heart, even more than it already was. Then, he suddenly had an idea on how to help her, and he didn’t like it.

“She doesn’t need to,” the young dragon said. “I can help!”

“WHAT!?” said every pony in the room.

“We can run this place together,” he explained, moving to stand next to Sweetie Belle. “Finishing Rarity’s designs and selling them off.”

“But Spike,” Diamond explained. “Do either of you know how to sew?”

They looked at each other, suddenly very worried. Spike looked across to his yellow friend. “No,” he explained. “But Fluttershy does.”

“What?” Fluttershy said.

“You can teach us how to sew!”

Fluttershy wanted to say ‘no’ but Spike’s pleading eyes made her say, “yes, yes I can.” She then moved to stand next to the two, not quite sure of what she was getting into, but knowing Spike needed as much support as she could provide.

The two older ponies looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

As Spike arrived back at the Library a few hours later, he was quickly greeted by his best friend, Twilight, who was reading in the middle of the room.

“Hey, Spike! How’d it go!?” she asked her young assistant.

Spike did not look to happy when he entered, but nonetheless, he turned to face the unicorn and, with a smile, said, “You’re looking at the new co-owner of Carousel Boutique!”

“WHAT!?” Twilight was shocked at this new revelation. “How’d that happen!?”

“I’m still not sure, and I somehow roped Fluttershy into it,” he explained.

“Spike!” she said, a bit angry. “Why’d you do that!?”

“Well, she didn’t object.”

“That’s not the point!” Twilight explained. “Do you even know how to design clothes!?”

“Well, no… but Rarity left a lot of sketches behind, and I can learn.”

“Spike it’s not that simple.”

“Well, maybe not!” he explained. “But I can at least try!”

“Spike!”

“Twilight!” Spike explained, holding up a claw. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll all be fine.”

Spike suddenly remembered he was also Twilight’s assistant. “OH!!” He said, “um… don’t worry, I’ll stay on top of my chores, it won’t be a problem.”

Twilight just looked at him and said, “Don’t worry about it Spike. If this is something you really want to do, I’m not going to put any extra pressure on-OOOF!” Spike leaped up and grabbed her neck in a hug.

But he didn’t. He continued to hug the mare, and said simply, “I love you, Twilight.”

Twilight was a bit confused. “I love you too, Spike.”

Spike let go, and quickly walked toward the kitchen trying to hide the tears in his eyes. “I’m going to make lunch.”

The morning sun rose, shining upon Ponyville. Beams of light came through the windows of the living quarters at Ponyville Library. Slowly moving across the floor until they landed on a small basket in the middle of the room, containing a small purple dragon named Spike.

The light woke him, and as he stirred in his bed, opening his eyes to the world, a question ran through his head, on one wall, he saw the answer indicated on a wall calendar. It was Saturday, and the day before, Friday, was crossed out. But he could still read what was well-marked in Friday’s square: “Twilight’s Funeral”

He stood, yawned and stretched his arms wide, recovering from a long night’s sleep. He looked at his right hand, and noticed the gold ring he fixed the night before. The ring was dominated by a blue stone, a stone he chose to remind him of what he had, not what he lost. Spike got out of bed and proceeded down the stairs to the library’s main sitting room.

As he entered, he heard a voice from the kitchen, which was through a nearby door. “Spike!?” A green unicorn stallion with glasses entered the room, and looked at the young dragon, “I made breakfast if you want any.”

“Yeah, sure,” Spike said, as he followed Cerebral Comet into the kitchen.

Sitting at the kitchen table were two ponies he knew very well: Shining Armour, Twilight’s brother; and Princess Cadance, his wife.

“Good morning, Spike,” Shining greeted the young dragon.

“Yeah,” Spike replied, “Morning.”

In front of them were two plates, with stacks of pancakes. The Princess had her mouth full, so she could only nod in Spike’s direction.

Spike grabbed a stool, and placed it in front of the table just as Comet gave Spike a plate. Six pancakes in the middle of the table were then stabbed by a glowing blue fork, and loaded onto Cadance’s plate. She then levitated a jar of maple syrup and poured it onto her plate.

Spike then stabbed a few pancakes himself, placed them onto his plate and waited for Cadance to finish with the syrup.

“So, Spike,” Shining said, trying to make conversation. “How are you doing?”

He merely shrugged as Cadance finished with the syrup. Spike grabbed it before she managed to place it on the table, and poured just enough syrup to cover the pancakes.

As he started to cut up his food, he asked a simple question. “So, where are you’re parents?”

“They left last night,” Shining responded.

“Right!” Spike said, “I forgot.”

“Yeah, I guess they didn’t want to stick around.”

At this moment, Comet walked over, with a pan in a golden glow, and tipped three pancakes onto the plate in the middle.

“Well, I’m out of batter,” he said as the pan floated to the sink. He loaded his plate and sat down opposite Spike and in between the happy couple.

“These are good,” Cadance said, pointing to her plate with her fork before loading it with some more pancake. “Where’d you get the recipe?”

Comet was about to pour some syrup onto his pancakes, when he answered, “Oh, it was in a recipe book I found. This place is well stocked I gotta tell ya.”

“She always tried,” Spike said, as he took another bite.

Silence fell on the group for a minute as they continued eating.

Eventually a knock came at the door, and Comet quickly got up to go answer it.

A few seconds later, the trio heard Comet scream, “HEY!” from the next room. Eventually, they learned who it was at the door as both Comet and a white unicorn named Rarity entered the kitchen.

“Good morning everyone.”

“Good morning, Rarity,” Cadance said.

“Morning, Rarity,” said Shining.

Spike gave her a proper greeting though. He said, “Good Morning,” as he got up, and walked toward his girlfriend, giving her a big kiss. “So, what brings you here this early.”

“You mean besides you, of course,” she said with a smile. “I came to invite Princess Cadance to join me and the girls at the spa!”

“The spa?” she asked, with a mouthful of pancake.

“Yes, well, we haven’t gone in a few weeks, and this week has been especially stressful,” everyone knew why, “so we’re all going to go and relax, get the full treatment.”

Cadance smiled, swallowed, and said, “sounds lovely.”

“Fantastic, we’ll meet at 10:30, at the Aloe Vera Day Spa, it’s just down the road.”

“I’ll be sure to be there.”

“Great! See you all later,” she said as she made her exit.

But Spike had other plans, “Um, Rarity,” he said, following her out.

“Yes, what is it Spike?” she said, stopping in the middle of the main sitting room.

“I was just… um…” this was very difficult, he had to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t raise suspicions. “I was just wondering how business was doing.”

“It’s going well,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, just… um… just curious,” he said. Spike needed some very specific information. But it would be hard to get if he wasn’t careful. “What about, future plans? I was just wondering what the future held for Carousel.”

Rarity was getting suspicious, he could tell. “Spike, you’ve never been interested in my work before.”

Spike needed to grease the wheels. “That’s not true,” he said. “I’ve always been interested, especially when you’re wearing ’em,” he finished with a smile.

Rarity blushed.

“Besides, shouldn’t I at least try to share the same interests as my girlfriend?”

“Well, I do have a new fashion line, and… actually, I would like a second set of eyes. Get a male perspective. Interested?”

Spike hit the jackpot! “Great, I’ll come with you right now! Just one second.”

He ran back into the kitchen and quickly polished off his plate of food, before saying, “I’ll see you later, Comet,” and running off again.

He had to get this information, because he made a commitment to Sweetie Belle that they would manage Carousel Boutique together, and he would help her finish Rarity’s designs, and he knew the best way to do that was to look at Rarity’s completed designs in another world. The world he was in now. So, when he went to sleep that night, and went to the other world, the one without his beloved, he would tell Sweetie Belle exactly how to finish it. This was Spike’s plan, to ensure no pony, in any world, would ever forget about his love. He could only hope it wouldn’t blow up in his face.